


Where in The World Is Carmen DiGregorio?

by missdibley



Series: The Red Nose Diaries [41]
Category: British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Brexit, F/M, lie back and think of carmen, tom hiddleston - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 16:51:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7722361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missdibley/pseuds/missdibley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carmen and Tom may be over but life does still go on.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where in The World Is Carmen DiGregorio?

**Author's Note:**

> I've written Jake before (in "Rabbit Season" and "Un pez llamado Carmen". I've never written James, though. Hope it worked!

_I'd always thought that if I held you tightly_  
_You'd always love me like you did back then_  
_Then I fell asleep and the city kept blinking_  
_What was I thinking when I let you back in?_  
Jeff Tweedy, “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart”

* * *

The 21st floor of London’s PACE Tower was all but abandoned on the Friday afternoon that Pericles Jacob “Jake” Banfield arrived to visit an old friend. Having slept through the flight from O’Hare, he was feeling energetic and perhaps a touch mischievous. While the London staffers didn’t usually keep the summer hours their American cousins did, after the fiasco that was #Brexit certain of them began to feel a strange sense of fatalism about their own careers.

This was all just to say, the place was just about empty. Jake wound his way through cubicles full of paperwork and sleek computers humming and squeaking as they continued to process and archive data. He paused in a waiting area where, on a credenza made of polished teak, there was a pile of press releases. Smiling to himself, Jake plucked the topmost sheet off the stack before entering the office that was his final destination.

“Excuse me?” Jake arched an eyebrow at the woman whose reading he interrupted. He held up the paper. “You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find this, hmm, Miss Carmen DiGregorio?”

The woman stood up, not noticing the brief she had been reading as it fell to the floor. She smiled, for the first time in a long while, and it made her face ache.

“You motherfucker! What the fuck are you doing here?!”

Before he could continue the charade, Carmen ran around her desk and flung herself at him.

“Babe.” He looked down at his protégé and dear friend. “Any chance you might be enticed to join an old man for tea?”

Carmen took a step back and took a good look at him. “Of course. But when you say tea…?”

Jake nodded. “Yes, I mean booze. And plenty of it.”

* * *

_PAN-ATLANTIC COMMODITIES EXCHANGE ANNOUNCES SENIOR MANAGEMENT PROMOTION_

_Released : 15 June 2016_

_LONDON -- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Pan-Atlantic Commodities Exchange, Inc., the premier operator of global exchanges, clearing houses and data services, announced the following leadership appointments effective 20 June 2016._

_Brock Jefferson, President and COO of PACE Options U.S., has been named PACE’s Chief Commercial Officer. Jefferson will be responsible for leading the integration planning and execution of PACE’s acquisitions and joint ventures. Jefferson joined PACE in 2009 from SunSpear where he led the company’s commodities business._

_Carmen DiGregorio, Senior Digital Producer for PACE Futures U.K., has been named Vice President for Digital Strategy and Content for PACE U.K. In this newly created role, DiGregorio will lead the effort to develop, deliver, and manage all media and content for_ [ _http://pacecommodities.co.uk_ ](http://pacecommodities.co.uk) _as well as for other digital and social media platforms._

“To you. To my girl on the occasion of her first big girl job. “ Jake held his drink up, sitting straight in his wingback chair and not relaxing until Carmen clinked her Pimm’s Cup against his tumbler of scotch.

“Thanks, Jake.” She glanced at the press release on the table between them, then sipped her drink. She looked around the bar. “This is a nice place, and not just for being a hotel bar, either. How did you get the exchange to pay for a hotel in Mayfair?”

“I got a deal. Blame Brexit, sweetheart.” Jake shrugged. “Tourism may be up because of the exchange rate, but there’s already been a downtick in business travel as firms in the City begins to panic, pull up stakes.”

“Already?” Carmen shook her head. “It’s been what, over a month? Almost two months, practically. And it could be years before the UK actually leaves the EU, assuming the petition for a recall isn’t successful.”

“True, but it can also take months, or even years, to get a new branch up and running. Especially if that new branch is in a different country, and it’s a flagship besides.” Jake set his drink down, then clasped his hands in his lap. “How do you feel about Zurich?”

Carmen rolled her eyes playfully. “I don’t speak German.”

“Toronto?”

Carmen snorted. “They’re too polite there! It makes me nervous.”

“Singapore?”

Carmen pointed to her hair, which fell in dark, glossy waves around her shoulders. “Imagine what the humidity would do to my hair!”

Jake threw his hands up. “I give up!”

“What about Tokyo?” She perked up.

“What about Tokyo?” Jake repeated. “You don’t speak Japanese. You’ve never been!”

“What’s there to know? It’s an island country that’s all about duty and honor and groovy food traditions.” Carmen looked around the room. “It’s just like England!”

“Carmen!” Jake laughed, then signaled to a passing waiter for refills. “Be serious.”

“I am serious,” retorted Carmen. “I’ve seen _The Mikado_ about a gazillion times.”

“That’s hardly preparation, kiddo.” He chuckled, then cleared his throat as their waiter approached.

“I’ll have your drinks shortly, sir.” The waiter began to set out the dishes he had been carrying on a wicker tray. “Cheese straws, cucumber sandwiches, bacon buns, and miniature strawberry shortcakes. Compliments of the bar manager.”

Carmen clapped her hands with glee. “I do love tea time.” She smiled up at the waiter. “Thank you.”

Jake stood up and stretched just as the waiter left to check on their cocktails. “Off to the gents’. Save me a shortcake, would ya?” He laughed when Carmen replied by shoving a cake in her mouth. “Very nice for a VP!” He found his wallet and withdrew a picture which he handed to her. “A picture of the husband with the boys. When I get back I’ll tell you how our annual trip to Saugatuck with the in-laws went.”

Carmen chewed the cake slowly as she examined the picture of George, Jake’s British husband, and their twin sons. She was just about to reach for a cheese straw when she sensed someone standing by her side.

“Yes?” She looked up with a smile, a smile that faded into an uncertain frown when she recognized who it was. Carmen bit her bottom lip hard, but still it trembled. She took a deep breath.

“James?”

* * *

_CAREER GIRL CARMEN ENJOYS COCKTAILS WITH NOT ONE BUT TWO MYSTERY SILVER FOXES AT MAYFAIR LOVE NEST_

_BY THE ENGLISH DISH STAFF_

_Her heart belongs to daddy! A sugar daddy, that is._

_While Tom Hiddleston continues his_ ~~_contract_ ~~ _romance with a certain American pop sensation, his most recent ex-flame Carmen DiGregorio is living it up in London. Could it be that mere weeks after Hiddles broke off their engagement that the sultry Asian-American, who was recently promoted to a senior position at the Pan-Atlantic Commodities Exchange, has finally moved on?_

_Carmen, 37, was seen arriving at a posh Mayfair hotel with a George Clooney look-a-like. The pair enjoyed drinks and nibbles, laughing and flirting well into the cocktail hour. Her promotion must have come with a significant pay rise, or perhaps her companion footed the bill? The average bill for drinks and a light repast for two at this swank hotel watering hole is £72. WOW! Who needs Tommy’s movie star millions? Not this girl!_

_But just like the way we like our martinis, there is a twist! The George Clooney clone was nowhere to be found when Carmen departed for the evening. Helping her into a classic London taxi was a much taller, much older gentleman. As you can tell by the reader photo below, the man in question is in possession of a head of thick, white hair. Excellent contrast to his dark suit, surely, but who is this man? And who is he to our Carmen?_

“Dad.”

“I thought you weren’t talking to me. Because of Aldeburgh.”

“I wasn’t _not_ talking to you.”

“ _Wasn’t not?!_ What a peculiar turn of phrase, Thomas.”

“That’s not the point.”

“Did you get that from the girl?”

“She has a name.”

“You must have, as you could not have learned it at Eton. Or Cambridge. Or RADA.”

“Dad, if you insist on talking about her like that, I will end this call.”

“You called me, son.”

“Dad. Please.”

“Fine.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“Come on, Dad.”

“Thomas, I’ve got quite a day ahead of me. Meetings, and then I’ve got to drive to London.”

“Have you been doing that a lot? Driving to town.”

“Well, sometimes I take the train. Save on petrol. And I get to read.”

“Have you been going to London to see her?”

“Who?”

“Father.”

“Thomas, I sincerely do not know who—”

“Carmen.”

“What?”

“Have you been driving into town to see Carmen?”

“No.”

“Are you—”

“But she does have a standing invitation to lunch whenever she is in Oxford.”

“I see.”

“Just like when you and she… when you were still together. You know. She never took me up on it before.”

“So you having drinks with her in London wasn’t planned?”

“I ran into her, quite by accident. Hotel where I had a conference.”

“Of course.”

“It’s not impossible. She was there with another man.”

“Who?”

“Jacob Banfield, I think. Older fellow. Looked like Cary Grant. Introduced himself as Carmen’s mentor, back in America.”

“I remember her talking about him, and to him on the phone. Before.”

“He only slightly grimaced when he realized who I was.”

“Dad, I…”

“They invited me to join them for a drink, so I did. I saw no harm.”

“I know.”

“It was the least I could do, given the celebration.”

“Celebration? Ah, her promotion.”

“You read about that?”

“I did.”

“You read about it in The Times? Because that’s where I saw it.”

“No. Erm, it was in The English Dish.”

“The what?”

“One of Luke’s staff found it. Sent it to Luke, who forwarded it to me.”

“A trade publication is it?”

“More of an entertainment news source.”

“So a tabloid then…”

“Dad…”

“It’s called The English Dish, Thomas. That’s got to be a tabloid or a cookery book.”

“Anyway, there was a picture of her. Of Carmen. Leaving the hotel. You helped her into a taxi.”

“Ah, yes. I did do that.”

“Was she alright? Did she drink too much? Sometimes when she hasn’t had enough water…”

“No. Her ankle was a bit wonky. High heels, you know.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, that was it.”

“I see.”

“Well, how is Australia?”

“It’s nice to be back at work.”

“Good. Good.”

“How are you doing?”

“Well. Well enough. You should call your mother more.”

“I will. I’ll leave you to it.”

“Of course. Thank you for calling.”

“Erm, thanks.”

“Thomas?”

“Yes?”

“You know, I do trust you. You’ve done well for yourself with your acting.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“You’ve never lied to me.”

“I… No.”

“You ought to know. Just because you were finished, finished with her… doesn’t mean the family was.”

“Dad…”

“Have a good day. Call your mother.”

“Dad, please…”

“Goodbye.”


End file.
